Shooter at Fort Lee: The "Spin" is Women are Disgruntled?
Last edited Mon Aug 25, 2014, 02:47 PM - Edit history (1)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2733878/Fort-Lee-lockdown-reports-active-shooter.htmlI don't want to speculate about the causes of this situation, and I don't know enough about the military to critique their procedures when they have a shooter on their hands.
But their public relations spin on this bugs me.
Disgruntled?
That's the word corporations use when they want to turn a whistleblower who has just risked everything into a mere troublemaker and a whiner with a grudge.
Again, without speculating on the nature of the situation, I think we can at least assume there was a situation here. And it was likely this woman, even if mental illness is a factor, took steps to resolve it, before she got to the point of despair where she tried to kill herself. This is not like the teenage attention-getting drama of a few pills: when you point a gun to your head, you aren't planning to survive. I also don't see mention of hostages: unlike most male violence scenarios, it doesn't seem like she was planning to take a few innocents down with her. (Again, I realize the military may not have released all the information).
I see a woman in some sort of enormous pain who tried to kill herself over something.
And the military PR spin is she was "disgruntled"?
I haven't seen military PR this ham-handed since I read some random newspaper article explaining some military mistake that constantly referred to soldiers as abstract "resources" and "assets" - everything but "people".
= new reply since forum marked as read
It makes me think this has something to do with her job - like she was demoted or fired and felt it was for an unjust reason. Or that she attempted whistleblowing and was punished for it. That's where the word "disgruntled" often comes into play.
That's how jaded I am!
But that's why I wish that word hadn't been used. Because it does tempt me to speculate in that way, and I shouldn't. The irony is that the people who use it are probably hoping that "disgruntled" still works to signal that a person is being fired because they are a whining trouble-maker, and the rest of the "savvy" world will wink wink nudge nudge at it. 
It could be something like that woman who had the meltdown in Congress. So it really is best not to speculate. But the initial words of the announcement were carefully chosen to craft a message and makes us speculate in the void of other information. And furthermore, it's speculation on a person's life that only become public because of this moment of crisis.
Gives me the willies. 
Maybe we don't know shit about it yet 
For saying "without speculating", you did a good job "not speculating" LOL
